# Has there ever been a successful ransom kidnapping?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 19, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382 "2015-03-19T13:54:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/1 "2015-03-19T13:54:32Z")
I realize this may devolve into an IMHO thread, and if it reaches that point, I leave it to a mod to move it, but I’m putting it here first, because I think my actual question is straightforward:
Has anyone ever paid a ransom in exchange for a kidnapped hostage in the US, and had the person returned unharmed, as promised? I realize there’s the possibility there may be unpublicized cases, if people followed orders not to call authorities, but you’d think most people would call authorities at least after the fact, or someone would talk eventually, so the story would eventually come out.
There’s a thread where there’s a question regarding whether one would pay the ransom or call the authorities. I said I would call the authorities, because there isn’t much correlation, historically, between paying the ransom and getting the hostage back. Since the thread was posted, I’ve found examples (by Googling, mostly, so, no real, serious research, I admit) of successful ransoms like the Dan Cooper hijack, but no “classic” stranger abductions for money that came off as expected. Even when the (usually) family members don’t call the authorities and try to pay the ransom, they don’t get a live hostage back. They get nothing, ever, or eventually a body is found. There have been a couple of cases where a hostage escaped, and in the Patty Hearst case, the family tried to ransom her more than once, but the SLA kept changing demands.
Does anyone know of a successful example of a kidnapping of the Lindbergh type, that came off the way it was supposed to (notwithstanding the kidnappers possibly captured at a later date)?
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/2 "2015-03-19T14:04:18Z")
John Paul Getty III was injured by his kidnappers, but he was returned alive after a ransom was paid.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/3 "2015-03-19T14:09:30Z")
Many of the people taken hostage by Somali pirates were ransomed.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/4 "2015-03-19T14:29:05Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> Many of the people taken hostage by Somali pirates were ransomed.
Somalia is “in the US”?
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/5 "2015-03-19T14:51:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Somalia is “in the US”?
Doh, I missed that part of the OP.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/6 "2015-03-19T14:54:13Z")
Look up Frank Sinatra Jr.
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### Author:  [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/7 "2015-03-19T15:22:44Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Look up Frank Sinatra Jr.
😕
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/8 "2015-03-19T15:29:20Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#):
>
> 😕
[The Kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr.](http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/december/the-kidnapping-of-frank-sinatra-jr)
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/9 "2015-03-19T15:29:42Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#):
>
> 😕
From [Frank Sinatra Jr. - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra,_Jr).
> [@](#):
>
> Sinatra was kidnapped, at the age of 19, on December 8, 1963 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe (room 417).[4] Sinatra was released two days later after his father paid the $240,000 ransom demanded by the kidnappers.
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### Author:  [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/10 "2015-03-19T15:41:19Z")
Indeed. The OP’s definition of “successful kidnapping” took me off guard.
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### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/11 "2015-03-19T15:45:27Z")
So, we have an American who was kidnapped in Italy, and an American whose ransom was paid under the watch of the authorities as a means of capturing, successfully, the kidnappers. One assumes the Sinatras got their money back.
Thanks for the responses. I have no doubt that in other countries paying the ransom is probably the way to go if you want your hostage back relatively unharmed, but in the US, I still don’t think it’s the way to go. At this point, even if someone does come up with a case where paying the ransom brought the person home unharmed, it still doesn’t look like it balances out statistically.
I was wondering, because I read a couple books on this, including a really comprehensive one, called _Ransom Kidnapping in America_, but I just looked up that book (which I read back in the 90s), and realized it was already pretty dated when I read it, and things could have changed, but I doubted they’d changed in favor of paying ransoms, and that does seem to be true.
Unless lots of kidnappings are happening on smaller levels, and somehow not making the press, and ransoms are being carried out successfully and silently, which I doubt.
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### Author:  [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/12 "2015-03-19T15:50:35Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#):
>
> Indeed. The OP’s definition of “successful kidnapping” took me off guard.
Yes, successful from the perspective of the criminals. It bears on whether paying the ransom appears to be a good gambit, at least for most of the people on the board, who are in countries with pretty good police forces, and FBI-type organizations. It appears that it is not, and calling the authorities, despite threats, is a better plan.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/13 "2015-03-19T15:54:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Does anyone know of a successful example of a kidnapping of the Lindbergh type, that came off the way it was supposed to (notwithstanding the kidnappers possibly captured at a later date)?
[Elizabeth Rosenkrantz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Rosenkranz#Edith_Rosenkranz.27s_kidnapping) was kidnapped in 1984. One million dollars paid. She was released. And as an added bonus, bad buys caught later on!
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/14 "2015-03-19T15:55:19Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Look up Frank Sinatra Jr.
> [@Donnerwetter](#):
>
> 😕
Strictly speaking, Sinatra was freed when [one of the kidnappers panicked and let him go](http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/december/the-kidnapping-of-frank-sinatra-jr), before the other kidnappers got back with the ransom, so I’m not sure that counts.
[The John Paul Getty III kidnapping was just sad all the way around](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/world/europe/08gettyobit.html?_r=0). The kidnappers demanded $17 million, which the family wouldn’t pay. After three months the kidnappers cut off Getty’s ear. They eventually dropped the ransom to $3 million. Getty’s grandfather eventually paid $2.2 million – supposedly because that was all the accountants said he could write off on his taxes – and lent Getty’s father enough to pay the rest, _while charging him interest_.:eek:
Whether it was “successful” is strictly a judgement call.
Wikipedia’s[list of kidnappings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kidnappings) suggests that U.S. kidnappings for ransom rarely end well.
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### Author:  [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/15 "2015-03-19T16:17:39Z")
OP was only looking for US cases, but there is the extraordinary kidnapping of Jan Philipp Reemtsma, heir to the [Reemtsma tobacco company](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reemtsma).
Reemtsma was kidnapped in 1996 and held by his kidnappers for a month. A ransom of 15 million German marks and 12.5 million Swiss francs was paid. The kidnappers were caught (years after the crime) and served lengthy prison sentences, but they have been released since. Most of the ransom was never recovered and it is assumed that the kidnappers (at least the mastermind, Thomas Drach, whose current whereabouts are unknown) have access the money.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/16 "2015-03-19T16:26:14Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> .
>
> [The John Paul Getty III kidnapping was just sad all the way around](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/world/europe/08gettyobit.html?_r=0). The kidnappers demanded $17 million, which the family wouldn’t pay. After three months the kidnappers cut off Getty’s ear. They eventually dropped the ransom to $3 million. Getty’s grandfather eventually paid $2.2 million – supposedly because that was all the accountants said he could write off on his taxes – and lent Getty’s father enough to pay the rest, _while charging him interest_.:eek:
“Are you telling me I’ve been _marked down_?”
[wails]“I’ve been kidnapped by Kmart.”
😃
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/17 "2015-03-19T16:36:25Z")
IIRC from news at the time, Getty disappeared while in Italy and part of the reason for refusal was that the Getty with all the money (and authorities in general) were at first pretty skeptical that it was not just a hoax for young Getty to get his hands on some money (it seems the elder granpa Getty was pretty much a skinflint.) When the ear arrived there was some debate whether this was his, and the family started to entertain the possibility the kidnapping was real.
The trouble with kidnapping in the USA was that Lindbergh spoiled it for everyone. The crime was so notorious kidnapping was made a federal crime (no need to prove inter-state activity, IIRC). That meant now the full weight and resources of the feds also came to bear much more quickly, making it a much riskier crime and far more difficult to get away with.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/18 "2015-03-19T17:01:01Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> “Are you telling me I’ve been _marked down_?”
>
> [wails]“I’ve been kidnapped by Kmart.”
> 😃
I hate the way she lick stamps!
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/19 "2015-03-19T17:04:08Z")
Weird question for me. I would define a successful kidnapping as
1. Ransom paid
2. Victim released unharmed
3. Kidnapper(s) escape and are still unknown
Has all 3 ever happened?
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-successful-ransom-kidnapping/715382/20 "2015-03-19T17:33:48Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> When the ear arrived there was some debate whether this was his, and the family started to entertain the possibility the kidnapping was real.
Amateurs. I can get you an ear by 3 o’clock this afternoon. 😃
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